Michigan Republicans want to move authority over K-12 assessment testing to the Department of Treasury. It’s a move that tells you all you need to know about how Republicans feel about schools.
Currently, the responsibility for school assessment lies with the Department of Education. That’s exactly where you’d imagine it would be and where it has been for years. It was moved to the Department of Treasury under Republican corporatist Governor John Engler. Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm appropriately returned it to the Department of Education in 2003 after she took office.
The move is another petulant display by Republicans who get pissy any time something stands in the way of their steamrolling agenda.
A former public school teacher, Genetski said the final straw was when MDE officials continued resisting calls to revive the MEAP even after committee Chairman Bill Rogers, R-Brighton, put the request into legislation. The department said it would take two years to develop a high-quality assessment from scratch.“I feel we are getting an unnecessary push and I am agitated,” Genetski said, adding that he is open to other state departments, such as licensing and regulatory affairs, taking over assessments “as long as we can streamline the administration and speed up the situation.”
Like I said: petulant.
There are two things in my mind that should not be done with a profit motive in mind: healthcare and education. Michigan Republicans want nothing more than to turn our education system over to for-profit corporations who fund their campaigns and who will siphon tax dollars into their bank accounts.
Moving education decisions like this to the Department of Treasury is part and parcel of that effort, make no mistake.
